Fresh from playing “Saturday Night Live,” British singer/songwriter Ed Sheeran has announced his first headlining arena tour with a Sept. 15 stop planned at Target Center in downtown Minneapolis.

Ticket details will be announced soon.

Sheeran, 23, began performing as a teen and played more than 300 shows in 2009. The following year, he traveled to Los Angeles and tested the waters at open microphone nights before earning the attention of actor/musician Jamie Foxx and later Atlantic Records. The label issued Sheeran’s debut album “+” in 2011. It eventually went gold and spawned the hits “The A Team” and “Lego House.”

His work caught the attention of country star Taylor Swift, who invited him to cowrite and sing on “Everything Has Changed,” a single from her fourth album, “Red.” Sheeran also spent much of last year opening for Swift on the road, including two sold-out nights at St. Paul’s Xcel Energy Center in September.

Sheeran’s sophomore album, “X,” is due in June. Pharrell Williams cowrote and produced the first single, “Sing,” one of two new songs Sheeran performed Saturday on “Saturday Night Live.”

A Minnesota native, Ross Raihala joined the Pioneer Press as pop music critic in 2004, after stints at The Forum in Fargo, N.D., and The Olympian in Olympia, Wash. He covers local and national music as well as some theater and other arts and entertainment topics. His favorite part of his job is reviewing, and live tweeting, Twin Cities arena concerts. And, yes, he saw the same show you did.

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